美國無線通訊 (USM) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the TDS and U.S. Cellular First Quarter 2023 Operating Results Call. (Operator Instructions) Thank you.

謝謝你的支持。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 TDS 和 US Cellular 2023 年第一季度運營業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）謝謝。

Colleen Thompson, Vice President of Corporate Relations, you may begin your conference.

企業關係副總裁 Colleen Thompson，您可以開始會議了。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. We want to make you all aware of the presentation we have prepared to accompany our comments this morning, which you can find on the Investor Relations sections of the TDS and U.S. Cellular websites.

早上好，感謝您加入我們。我們想讓大家知道我們為今天上午的評論準備的演示文稿，您可以在 TDS 和 US Cellular 網站的投資者關係部分找到這些演示文稿。

With me today and offering prepared comments are from TDS Vicki Villacrez, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From U.S. Cellular, Laurent Therivel, President and Executive Officer; Doug Chambers, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; and from TDS Telecom, Michelle Brukwicki, Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. This call is being simultaneously webcast on the TDS and U.S. Cellular Investor Relations websites. Please see the websites for slides referred to on this call, including non-GAAP reconciliations.

今天和我一起提供準備好的評論來自 TDS Vicki Villacrez，執行副總裁兼首席財務官。來自 US Cellular，Laurent Therivel，總裁兼執行官； Doug Chambers，執行副總裁、首席財務官兼財務主管；來自 TDS Telecom 的財務高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Michelle Brukwicki。 TDS 和 U.S. Cellular Investor Relations 網站上同時進行了此次電話會議的網絡直播。請參閱本次電話會議中提到的幻燈片的網站，包括非 GAAP 對賬。

We provide guidance for both adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization or OIBDA and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, to highlight the contributions of U.S. Cellular's wireless partnerships. TDS and U.S. Cellular filed their SEC Forms 8-K including the press releases and our 10-Q yesterday.

我們為調整後的折舊和攤銷前營業收入或 OIBDA 以及調整後的利息、稅項、折舊和攤銷前利潤或 EBITDA 提供指導，以突出美國移動無線合作夥伴關係的貢獻。 TDS 和 U.S. Cellular 昨天提交了他們的 SEC 表格 8-K，包括新聞稿和我們的 10-Q。

As shown on Slide 2, the information set forth in the presentation and discussed during this call contain statements about expected future financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties.

如幻燈片 2 所示，本次電話會議期間演示文稿中所列和討論的信息包含有關預期未來財務結果的陳述，這些陳述具有前瞻性並受風險和不確定因素的影響。

A second, Colleen. Operator, could you just do us a favor and make sure all the lines are muted, please.

等一下，科琳。接線員，請幫我們一個忙，確保所有線路都靜音。

Okay. I'm going to go back to Slide 2, the information set forth in the presentation and discussed during this call contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. Please review the safe harbor paragraph in our press releases and the extended version included in our SEC filings.

好的。我要回到幻燈片 2，演示文稿中闡述和本次電話會議討論的信息包含有關預期未來事件和財務結果的前瞻性陳述，並受風險和不確定性的影響。請查看我們新聞稿中的安全港段落和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的擴展版本。

In terms of our upcoming IR schedule on Slide 3, on May 23, we will be attending JPMorgan's 51st Annual TMT Conference in Boston. And in late June, we will be virtually attending the New York Stock Exchange Investor Access Conference. And as always, we have an open door or video call policy, so please reach out if you're interested in speaking with us.

根據幻燈片 3 即將發布的 IR 時間表，我們將於 5 月 23 日參加摩根大通在波士頓舉行的第 51 屆年度 TMT 大會。 6 月下旬，我們將以虛擬方式參加紐約證券交易所投資者准入會議。與往常一樣，我們實行門戶開放或視頻通話政策，所以如果您有興趣與我們交談，請聯繫我們。

I will now turn the call over to Vicki Villacrez. Vicki?

我現在將電話轉給 Vicki Villacrez。薇琪？

Okay. Thank you, Colleen, and good morning, everyone. Both of our business units reaffirmed their guidance shared with you in February. U.S. Cellular is making significant investments in advancing its network and TDS Telecom is executing its strategy to deploy fiber in approximately 100 new markets. We continue to ensure we have the balance sheet strength to support the investments the enterprise needs and are managing within our planned levels of leverage for 2023. We ended the quarter with approximately $1.1 billion in available sources of liquidity, including cash, revolver and asset securitization facility to choose from to help fund our investments as needed, and we continue to have access to the debt capital markets.

好的。謝謝你，科琳，大家早上好。我們的兩個業務部門都重申了他們在 2 月份與您分享的指導方針。 US Cellular 正在大力投資推進其網絡，而 TDS Telecom 正在執行其在大約 100 個新市場部署光纖的戰略。我們繼續確保我們的資產負債表實力足以支持企業所需的投資，並在我們計劃的 2023 年槓桿水平內進行管理。本季度結束時，我們擁有約 11 億美元的可用流動性來源，包括現金、循環貸款和資產證券化可供選擇的設施以根據需要為我們的投資提供資金，並且我們可以繼續進入債務資本市場。

And now I'll turn over the call to LT to update you on U.S. Cellular's results. LT?

現在我將把電話轉給 LT，向您通報 U.S. Cellular 的最新結果。 LT？

Thanks, Vicki. Good morning, everybody. I hope everyone is doing well. If we turn to Slide 6. Our top priority continues to be improving customer results. And although we still have plenty of work to do, I'm pleased with the progress that I've seen. As you can see on Slide 8, we've driven both improved postpaid gross adds on a year-over-year basis. We've improved postpaid churn on both a year-over-year and sequential basis. And we hope to see those trends continue moving forward. And I want to talk for just a second about the drivers of some of the results that you're seeing.

謝謝，趙薇。大家早上好。我希望每個人都做得很好。如果我們轉到幻燈片 6。我們的首要任務仍然是改善客戶結果。儘管我們還有很多工作要做，但我對我所看到的進展感到滿意。正如您在幻燈片 8 中看到的那樣，我們在同比基礎上推動了兩種改進的後付費總增加。我們在同比和連續的基礎上都改善了後付費客戶流失率。我們希望看到這些趨勢繼續向前發展。我想談談你所看到的一些結果的驅動因素。

Take you back mid-'22, we launched several pricing and promotional efforts in order to address subscriber challenges. And specifically, we were looking to address churn reduction. And based on the testing we've done in our regional trials, we knew it would take about 6 to 9 months to see the consumer churn benefit. And we're now starting to see that in the consumer channel. Our voluntary churn improved about 10% year-over-year.

帶你回到 22 年中期，我們推出了幾項定價和促銷活動，以應對訂戶挑戰。具體來說，我們希望解決減少客戶流失的問題。根據我們在區域試驗中所做的測試，我們知道大約需要 6 到 9 個月才能看到消費者流失帶來的好處。我們現在開始在消費者渠道中看到這一點。我們的自願流失率同比提高了約 10%。

At the same time, we also launched our flat rate plans in order to improve the gross ad trajectory. And we continue to see steady adoption of those plans. And on average, nearly 27% of our flat rate customers have selected the higher tier unlimited plans. As a quick reminder, while flat rate pricing generates lower ARPU than our traditional postpaid pricing customers that are on those flat rate plans are not eligible for higher levels of device promotional discounts. And so those plants have similar economics over their contract terms. And I'm pleased with the balance that we're striking between subscriber and financial aggressiveness. You'll see postpaid ARPU is also up 2% for the quarter.

同時，我們還推出了統一費率計劃，以改善總體廣告軌跡。我們繼續看到這些計劃得到穩步採用。平均而言，我們近 27% 的統一費率客戶選擇了更高級別的無限制計劃。快速提醒一下，雖然統一費率定價產生的 ARPU 低於我們傳統的後付費定價，但採用這些統一費率計劃的客戶沒有資格獲得更高級別的設備促銷折扣。因此，這些工廠在合同條款方面具有相似的經濟效益。我對我們在訂戶和財務激進之間取得的平衡感到滿意。您會看到本季度後付費 ARPU 也增長了 2%。

I also want to take a second and highlight our continued strong momentum in fixed wireless. Gross adds are up 130% year-over-year. We finished the quarter with 87,000 subscribers, and we expect to reach 100,000 subscribers later this year. We expect another solid quarter of year-over-year growth in the second quarter as we did not expand fixed wireless to our entire footprint until June of last year. And additionally, as we start to deploy our mid-band spectrum that will provide additional growth momentum for fixed wireless in the coming quarters.

我還想花點時間強調一下我們在固定無線領域的持續強勁勢頭。總收入同比增長 130%。我們在本季度結束時擁有 87,000 名訂閱者，我們預計今年晚些時候將達到 100,000 名訂閱者。我們預計第二季度將出現另一個穩健的同比增長季度，因為我們直到去年 6 月才將固定無線業務擴展到我們的整個足跡。此外，隨著我們開始部署中頻頻譜，這將為未來幾個季度的固定無線業務提供額外的增長動力。

Our tower business produced another strong quarter of results with revenues growing 11% year-over-year. And also to further highlight our performance, we've expanded our presentation to include some additional metrics as you see on Slide 11 of the presentation. We also rolled out our master brand campaign in the quarter built for us. That included an initiative called Phones Down for 5. The challenge was built on a pretty simple action, taking a break from your phone for 5 days, 5 hours or even just 5 minutes in order to reset your relationship with technology. The response to the campaign has been very encouraging, and we believe it's positively affected our Net Promoter Score, which is up meaningfully in the past few months.

我們的塔式業務又取得了強勁的季度業績，收入同比增長 11%。為了進一步突出我們的表現，我們擴展了我們的演示文稿以包括一些其他指標，如您在演示文稿的幻燈片 11 中看到的那樣。我們還在為我們打造的季度推出了主品牌活動。其中包括一項名為 Phones Down for 5 的倡議。這項挑戰建立在一個非常簡單的行動之上，即讓您的手機休息 5 天、5 小時甚至僅 5 分鐘，以重置您與技術的關係。對活動的反響非常鼓舞人心，我們相信它對我們的淨推薦值產生了積極影響，該值在過去幾個月中顯著上升。

On the network side, about 80% of our traffic is carried by sites supporting 5G. We've continued our mid-band deployment, which includes beginning to light up markets with DOD spectrum and further building out C-band, so that we'll be ready to light it up in portions of our network when the spectrum clears and we expect that to be in late 2023.

在網絡側，我們大約80%的流量是由支持5G的站點承載的。我們繼續我們的中頻段部署，其中包括開始用 DOD 頻譜點亮市場並進一步構建 C 波段，以便我們準備好在頻譜清除時在我們的部分網絡中點亮它，我們預計將在 2023 年末完成。

As I wrap up my comments, I want to spend just a moment discussing a recent decision we've made as we continue to prioritize our investments and our focus on growing the revenues and the returns of our business. Earlier this week, we announced a reduction in staffing at U.S. Cellular, and that spans across numerous areas of operation. And while this decision was carefully considered and it was a difficult one, this action allows us to sharpen our focus and our alignment as well as improve our operational efficiency and effectiveness.

在結束我的評論時，我想花點時間討論一下我們最近做出的一個決定，因為我們將繼續優先考慮我們的投資，並專注於增加收入和業務回報。本週早些時候，我們宣布裁減 US Cellular 的人員，這涉及多個運營領域。雖然這個決定是經過仔細考慮並且是一個艱難的決定，但這一行動使我們能夠更加專注和協調一致，並提高我們的運營效率和效力。

Doug will provide some additional context in terms of the impact to our financials in the quarter. And consistent with our culture, we'll care for our team during this transition with empathy and respect and I want to thank all of our associates with their continued focus and dedication as we focus on serving our customers with excellence.

Doug 將就本季度對我們財務狀況的影響提供一些額外的背景信息。與我們的文化相一致，我們將在這一過渡期間以同理心和尊重的態度關心我們的團隊，我要感謝我們所有的員工，感謝他們在我們專注於為客戶提供卓越服務時的持續關注和奉獻。

And with that, I'm going to hand it over to Doug.

有了這個，我要把它交給道格。

Thanks, LT. Good morning. Let's start with a review of our customer results on Slide 8. Postpaid handset net losses improved $11,000 on a year-over-year basis due primarily to lower voluntary defections as voluntary churn improved both year-over-year and sequentially in large part due to the increase in percentage of customers in contract as a result of our attractive upgrade offers in the second half of 2022 and first quarter of 2023.

謝謝，LT。早上好。讓我們從幻燈片 8 上客戶結果的回顧開始。後付費手機淨虧損同比減少 11,000 美元，這主要是由於自願流失率同比和環比有所改善，這在很大程度上是由於自願流失率下降由於我們在 2022 年下半年和 2023 年第一季度提供有吸引力的升級優惠，合同客戶的百分比有所增加。

We saw connected device gross and net additions increased by 9,000 on a year-over-year basis, driven by fixed wireless customer growth. As LT mentioned, we continue to see strong momentum in fixed wireless with a base of customers up 63% from the prior year and up 11% from the end of 2022.

在固定無線客戶增長的推動下，我們看到連接設備的總增加量和淨增加量同比增長 9,000 台。正如 LT 所提到的，我們繼續看到固定無線的強勁勢頭，客戶群比上一年增長 63%，比 2022 年底增長 11%。

Moving to Slide 9. Prepaid gross additions declined 12,000 and net prepaid additions decreased 5,000. In terms of gross additions, the overall pool of available customers declined and we believe the year-over-year decrease in income tax refunds contributed to this. In addition, given the relative pricing parity between our flat rate postpaid offering and our prepaid plans, we are seeing our customers choosing to take our flat rate postpaid offer instead of prepaid, and that's a good trend as our flat rate plans provide better economics. Lastly, we saw a decline in our prepaid churn rate.

轉到幻燈片 9。預付總增加量下降 12,000，預付淨增加量減少 5,000。就總增加量而言，可用客戶總數有所下降，我們認為所得稅退稅同比下降是造成這一情況的原因。此外，鑑於我們的統一費率後付費產品和預付費計劃之間的相對定價平價，我們看到我們的客戶選擇採用我們的統一費率後付費產品而不是預付費，這是一個很好的趨勢，因為我們的統一費率計劃提供更好的經濟性。最後，我們看到預付費客戶流失率有所下降。

Now let's turn to the financial results starting on Slide 10. Total operating revenues for the first quarter decreased 2% from the prior year with service revenue declining 3%. The primary drivers of lower service revenue are declines in the average postpaid subscriber base and roaming revenue. You will note, that the decline in roaming revenue is due to decreasing reciprocal roaming rates with our carrier partners, and this roaming revenue decline is more than offset by the decline we see in our off-net rolling expense. And therefore, the overall decrease in roaming rates is accretive to our profitability.

現在讓我們來看看從幻燈片 10 開始的財務結果。第一季度的總營業收入比去年同期下降 2%，其中服務收入下降 3%。服務收入下降的主要原因是平均後付費用戶群和漫遊收入下降。您會注意到，漫遊收入的下降是由於與我們的運營商合作夥伴的互惠漫遊費率下降，而這種漫遊收入下降被我們看到的網外滾動費用下降所抵消。因此，漫遊費率的整體下降會增加我們的盈利能力。

On the positive side, LT mentioned the increase in postpaid ARPU, and this increase, along with the increase in our ARPA was driven primarily by favorable plan and product offering mix as a result of customer adoption of our higher value, higher tier plans and an increase in device protection revenues. These increases were partially offset by an increase in promotional costs. We continue to see growth in our highest tiers of unlimited plans and 42% of our postpaid handset customers are on these higher tier plans at the end of the quarter.

從積極的方面來看，LT 提到了後付費 ARPU 的增加，這種增加以及我們的 ARPA 的增加主要是由有利的計劃和產品組合推動的，這是由於客戶採用了我們更高價值、更高層次的計劃和增加設備保護收入。這些增長部分被促銷成本的增加所抵消。我們繼續看到我們最高級別的無限制計劃的增長，並且我們 42% 的後付費手機客戶在本季度末使用這些更高級別的計劃。

Equipment revenues decreased by 2% due primarily to a decline in volume, partially offset by an increase in the average revenue per device. These same dynamics played out on the cost of equipment sold side resulting in loss on equipment being flat year-over-year. Next, let's turn to our quarterly financial results shown on Slide 12.

設備收入下降 2%，主要是由於銷量下降，部分被每台設備平均收入的增加所抵消。這些相同的動態在設備銷售方面的成本上發揮作用，導致設備損失同比持平。接下來，讓我們轉向幻燈片 12 中顯示的季度財務結果。

For this discussion, I will refer to adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization as adjusted operating income. As I noted, total operating revenues declined 2% year-over-year while total cash expenses increased 2%. Cash operating expenses in the first quarter of 2023 include $10 million of severance and related costs attributable to our reduction in staffing previously mentioned by LT. This reduction will become effective in the second quarter and both the severance impact and the 2023 in-year savings impact are incorporated in our guidance. This action is in addition to our ongoing cost optimization program as we continue to effectively manage costs through our ongoing 5G deployment and inflationary pressures.

在本次討論中，我將折舊和攤銷前的調整後營業收入稱為調整後營業收入。正如我所指出的，總營業收入同比下降 2%，而總現金支出增長 2%。 2023 年第一季度的現金運營費用包括 1000 萬美元的遣散費和相關費用，這些費用歸因於 LT 先前提到的裁員。這一減少將在第二季度生效，遣散費影響和 2023 年年內節省影響都已納入我們的指導中。這一行動是對我們正在進行的成本優化計劃的補充，因為我們將繼續通過我們正在進行的 5G 部署和通貨膨脹壓力來有效地管理成本。

This program has delivered outstanding results with respect to controlling our cash expenses. Specifically, during the period 2017 through 2022, excluding the impacts of loss on equipment and bad debt expense which have been impacted by the aggressive promotional environment and payment behavior during the pandemic, we have held cash expenses essentially flat and expect to do the same in 2023.

該計劃在控制我們的現金支出方面取得了出色的成果。具體而言，在 2017 年至 2022 年期間，排除因大流行期間激進的促銷環境和支付行為而造成的設備損失和壞賬費用的影響，我們保持現金支出基本持平，並預計在2023.

Selling, General and Administrative expenses were also impacted by an increase in advertising expense in the first quarter related to timing. Primarily media costs associated with the launch of our new master brand campaign, which LT highlighted in his opening remarks. Capital expenditures have increased 52%, driven by timing of expenditures. As our guidance indicates, we expect our full year 2023 capital expenditures to be less than the prior year as we invest in our multiyear 5G mid-band deployment while prudently managing our free cash flow.

銷售、一般和行政費用也受到第一季度與時間相關的廣告費用增加的影響。主要是與推出我們新的主品牌活動相關的媒體成本，LT 在他的開場白中強調了這一點。受支出時間的推動，資本支出增長了 52%。正如我們的指引所示，我們預計 2023 年全年的資本支出將低於上一年，因為我們投資於多年的 5G 中頻部署，同時審慎管理我們的自由現金流。

As shown on Slide 13, our 2023 financial guidance remains unchanged from the guidance we issued in February of this year as we remain on track to our financial plan.

如幻燈片 13 所示，我們的 2023 年財務指導與我們在今年 2 月發布的指導保持不變，因為我們仍在按計劃執行我們的財務計劃。

I will now turn the call over to Michelle Brukwicki, Michelle?

我現在將電話轉給 Michelle Brukwicki，Michelle？

Thank you, Doug, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report on TDS Telecom's first quarter results and to confirm that we are on track to meet both our operational and financial goals set out earlier this year. Here are the key messages.

謝謝你，道格，大家早上好。我很高興報告 TDS Telecom 第一季度的業績，並確認我們有望實現今年早些時候制定的運營和財務目標。以下是關鍵信息。

First quarter fiber service address delivery and financial results came in as expected. This sets the foundation for us to meet our fiber service address target and financial guidance that we set out at the beginning of the year. We delivered 25,000 marketable fiber service addresses during the quarter. Our full year goal is 175,000 addresses, so we will be significantly ramping up deployment as we move out of winter months and construction activity can accelerate.

第一季度光纖服務地址交付和財務業績符合預期。這為我們實現年初制定的光纖服務地址目標和財務指導奠定了基礎。我們在本季度交付了 25,000 個可銷售的光纖服務地址。我們的全年目標是 175,000 個地址，因此隨著冬季月份的結束和建設活動的加速，我們將大幅增加部署。

On the financial side, broadband penetration in our new expansion markets continues to grow at the pace expected in our business cases. This is translating into revenue growth. Since we are still in the early phases of market launches in the majority of our markets, we continue to see pressure on adjusted EBITDA. This is a result of incurring start-up costs before the revenues from the markets start coming in. This is all part of our 2023 guidance.

在財務方面，我們新擴展市場的寬帶普及率繼續以我們業務案例中預期的速度增長。這正在轉化為收入增長。由於我們在大多數市場仍處於市場推出的早期階段，我們繼續看到調整後 EBITDA 的壓力。這是在市場收入開始進入之前產生啟動成本的結果。這都是我們 2023 年指導方針的一部分。

As these new markets start generating revenue, which follows our service address delivery, adjusted EBITDA will start to improve in future years. I'll give more detail on our fiber program and financials as we go through the slides, but I wanted everyone to have this context upfront.

隨著這些新市場在我們的服務地址交付之後開始產生收入，調整後的 EBITDA 將在未來幾年開始改善。在我們瀏覽幻燈片時，我將提供有關我們的光纖計劃和財務的更多詳細信息，但我希望每個人都能預先了解這一背景。

So let's move to Slide 15. Here, you can see our strategic areas of focus that will help us achieve our goal to be the preferred broadband provider in the markets we serve. Investments in these strategic priorities will drive profitability and improved returns over time ultimately strengthening TDS Telecom's financial and market position.

那麼讓我們轉到幻燈片 15。在這裡，您可以看到我們的戰略重點領域，這些領域將幫助我們實現成為我們所服務市場中首選寬帶提供商的目標。隨著時間的推移，對這些戰略重點的投資將推動盈利能力和更高的回報，最終加強 TDS Telecom 的財務和市場地位。

Moving to Slide 16. Let me update you on our progress towards achieving our longer-term goals. At year-end, I shared 3 metrics that we will consistently monitor and report on each quarter so you can follow the progress we're making towards these goals. The headline is that based on first quarter results and our expectations for 2023, we remain on track.

轉到幻燈片 16。讓我向您介紹我們在實現長期目標方面取得的進展。年底時，我分享了 3 個指標，我們將在每個季度持續監控和報告這些指標，以便您了解我們在實現這些目標方面取得的進展。標題是，根據第一季度的業績和我們對 2023 年的預期，我們仍然走在正軌上。

As previously mentioned, we deployed 25,000 marketable service addresses in the quarter, and we remain confident that we're on track to reach 175,000 by year-end. As a reminder, most of our expansion markets are in the Pacific Northwest in Wisconsin, where weather slows down delivery during winter months. So our expectations are that service addresses will build steadily throughout the year. So let me share where we're at on our fiber program metrics. We're targeting 1.2 million marketable fiber service addresses by 2026. We ended the quarter with 607,000, so we are over the halfway mark. We're also targeting 60% of our total service addresses to be served by fiber by 2026 and we ended the quarter with 40%. This reflects progress in growing fiber through our expansion markets as well as fibering up our incumbent markets. Specifically, by 2026, we plan to serve half our ILEC addresses with fiber. And at the end of the quarter, 37% of our ILEC was fibered up. And finally, we're expecting to offer speeds of 1 gig or higher to at least 80% of our footprint by 2026. We finished the quarter with 67% at gig speeds.

如前所述，我們在本季度部署了 25,000 個可銷售服務地址，我們仍然相信我們有望在年底前達到 175,000 個。提醒一下，我們的大部分擴展市場都位於威斯康星州的太平洋西北部，那裡的天氣在冬季會減慢交貨速度。因此，我們的期望是服務地址將在全年穩步增加。因此，讓我分享一下我們在纖維計劃指標方面的進展情況。我們的目標是到 2026 年有 120 萬個可銷售的光纖服務地址。本季度末我們有 607,000 個，所以我們已經完成了一半。我們還計劃到 2026 年將 60% 的總服務地址由光纖提供服務，本季度末這一比例為 40%。這反映了通過我們的擴張市場以及加強現有市場在發展纖維方面取得的進展。具體來說，到 2026 年，我們計劃用光纖為一半的 ILEC 地址提供服務。在本季度末，我們的 ILEC 中有 37% 被光纖化了。最後，我們預計到 2026 年將至少 80% 的足跡提供 1 gig 或更高的速度。本季度結束時，我們以 gig 速度完成了 67%。

We're pleased with the pace of our fiber builds and with our fiber expansion results so far. We continue to successfully navigate challenges in getting our builds completed. We've been scaling up our service address deployment since we launched this program and have a repeatable process in place as we expand it. Based on our experience, we still see positive contributions from our market launches starting around the 3-year mark, and we still expect to achieve broadband penetration rates of at least 40% in a steady state. The success that we've seen in our early markets validates our business cases and our expectation of low to mid-double-digit returns.

到目前為止，我們對光纖構建的速度和光纖擴展結果感到滿意。我們繼續成功應對挑戰，完成我們的構建。自推出該計劃以來，我們一直在擴大我們的服務地址部署，並且在我們擴展它時有一個可重複的過程。根據我們的經驗，我們仍然看到從 3 年左右開始的市場推出的積極貢獻，我們仍然期望在穩定狀態下實現至少 40% 的寬帶滲透率。我們在早期市場中取得的成功證實了我們的業務案例以及我們對中低兩位數回報的預期。

On Slide 17, you can see that our fiber program is a multiyear journey. We have about 100 communities that are in various stages of development, with most of these in or about to begin construction. We've seen an 8% growth in total service addresses year-over-year. Successfully ramping up construction this year is key towards hitting our longer-term 2026 goals. We also continue to address the broadband needs in our most rural markets by upgrading our copper networks with support from state broadband grant programs and by meeting our obligations under the federal A-CAM program. It is our understanding that the FCC is moving toward adopting an extension of the A-CAM program, hopefully, by third quarter.

在幻燈片 17 上，您可以看到我們的纖維計劃是一個多年的旅程。我們有大約 100 個處於不同發展階段的社區，其中大部分正在或即將開始建設。我們發現總服務地址同比增長了 8%。今年成功加快建設是實現我們 2026 年長期目標的關鍵。我們還通過在州寬帶贈款計劃的支持下升級我們的銅線網絡並履行我們在聯邦 A-CAM 計劃下的義務，繼續滿足我們大多數農村市場的寬帶需求。據我們了解，FCC 正朝著採用 A-CAM 計劃的擴展方向邁進，希望在第三季度實現。

The A-CAM extension would provide an additional 6 years of support for speeds of 100 down and 20 up. The same speeds as BEAD. For us, this means getting fiber to almost all of our 160,000 A-CAM addresses. We are very enthusiastic about an A-CAM extension because we believe that extending the current federal A-CAM program first and then pursuing BEAD program funding would be the fastest path for TDS Telecom to take fiber deeper into our communities.

A-CAM 擴展將為 100 下降和 20 上升的速度提供額外的 6 年支持。與 BEAD 的速度相同。對我們來說，這意味著將光纖連接到幾乎所有 160,000 個 A-CAM 地址。我們對 A-CAM 的擴展非常熱心，因為我們相信，首先擴展當前的聯邦 A-CAM 計劃，然後再尋求 BEAD 計劃資金，將是 TDS 電信將光纖深入我們社區的最快途徑。

Our broadband investments are driving positive results. As shown on Slide 18, we experienced a 4% increase year-over-year in total broadband residential connections. Shown on the graph on the right, we see demand for greater broadband speeds with 72% of our customers taking 100 megabits per second or greater, up from 67% a year ago.

我們的寬帶投資正在取得積極成果。如幻燈片 18 所示，我們的寬帶住宅連接總數同比增長 4%。如右圖所示，我們看到對更高寬帶速度的需求，72% 的客戶需要每秒 100 兆位或更高速度，高於一年前的 67%。

TDS Telecom can now offer at least 1 gig service to 67% of its footprint. In some markets, we're now even offering 8 gig speeds. In areas where we offer gig plus service, we're seeing 24% of our new customers taking this product. And finally, our focus on fast reliable service has generated an 8% increase in total residential broadband revenue.

TDS Telecom 現在可以為其 67% 的足跡提供至少 1 個演出服務。在某些市場，我們現在甚至提供 8 gig 速度。在我們提供 gig plus 服務的地區，我們看到 24% 的新客戶使用了該產品。最後，我們對快速可靠服務的關注使住宅寬帶總收入增長了 8%。

On Slides 19 and 20, I'll share some financial highlights, which were in line with our expectations. Total revenues increased 1% for the quarter. This 1% increase is made up of an increase in residential revenues, offset by a decrease in commercial and wholesale.

在幻燈片 19 和 20 上，我將分享一些符合我們預期的財務亮點。本季度總收入增長 1%。這 1% 的增長由住宅收入的增加構成，被商業和批發收入的減少所抵消。

Residential revenues across all of our markets increased 4% for the quarter. Average residential revenue per connection was also up 4% due to price increases and overall product mix, partially offset by promotions. As shown in the chart on the left, expansion market residential revenues were up to $15 million in the quarter. This aligns with our expectations of steady revenue growth following the timing of service address delivery as penetrations in these new markets build. Residential wireline incumbent and cable revenues increased year-over-year due to price increases and growth in broadband connections. Partially offset by promotional activity and a decline in video and voice connections.

我們所有市場的住宅收入在本季度增長了 4%。由於價格上漲和整體產品組合，每個連接的平均住宅收入也增長了 4%，部分被促銷抵消。如左圖所示，本季度擴展市場住宅收入高達 1500 萬美元。這符合我們的預期，即隨著這些新市場的滲透，隨著服務地址交付時間的推移，收入將穩步增長。由於價格上漲和寬帶連接的增長，住宅有線和有線電視收入同比增長。部分被促銷活動和視頻和語音連接的下降所抵消。

Commercial revenues decreased 7% in the quarter, primarily driven by lower CLEC connections. And lastly, wholesale revenues decreased 4% for the quarter, primarily due to lower special access revenue.

本季度商業收入下降了 7%，這主要是由於 CLEC 連接減少所致。最後，本季度批發收入下降了 4%，這主要是由於特殊訪問收入下降。

Cash expenses increased 10% in the quarter, mainly due to our growing fiber program. As a reminder, cost to support launching our fiber expansion markets include direct costs such as sales, marketing, real estate and technicians in addition to shared services. These costs are incurred upfront and prior to generating revenues. As we expected, the increased cash expenses resulted in a decline in adjusted EBITDA of 17% for the quarter.

本季度現金支出增加了 10%，這主要是由於我們不斷增長的纖維計劃。提醒一下，支持啟動我們的光纖擴展市場的成本包括直接成本，如銷售、營銷、房地產和技術人員以及共享服務。這些成本是在產生收入之前預先發生的。正如我們預期的那樣，增加的現金支出導致本季度調整後的 EBITDA 下降 17%。

Capital expenditures of $130 million were up from the prior year due to increased investment in fiber deployment. Keep in mind that these investments support our multiyear strategy and our goal of increasing free cash flow and return on capital over the long run.

由於對光纖部署的投資增加，資本支出比上一年增加了 1.3 億美元。請記住，這些投資支持我們的多年戰略以及我們增加自由現金流和長期資本回報的目標。

On Slide 21 is our 2023 guidance, which is unchanged and as we are tracking to our plans. We are forecasting total telecom revenues of $1.03 billion to $1.06 billion. This reflects our goal of top line growth driven by continued improvements in residential revenues across all of our markets, offsetting declines in commercial and wholesale revenues.

幻燈片 21 上是我們的 2023 年指南，該指南沒有變化，我們正在跟踪我們的計劃。我們預測電信總收入為 10.3 億美元至 10.6 億美元。這反映了我們的目標是在我們所有市場的住宅收入持續改善的推動下實現收入增長，抵消商業和批發收入的下降。

Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $260 million to $290 million in 2023. Adjusted EBITDA reflects our continued fiber expansion, which requires upfront spending. At the end of 2023, Almost all of our 100 communities will have been launched. As our market builds mature and we increase our penetration, we expect the pressure on adjusted EBITDA to lessen over time.

預計 2023 年調整後的 EBITDA 將在 2.6 億美元至 2.9 億美元之間。調整後的 EBITDA 反映了我們持續的光纖擴張，這需要前期支出。到 2023 年底，我們的 100 個社區將幾乎全部啟動。隨著我們市場的成熟和我們滲透率的提高，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 的壓力會隨著時間的推移而減輕。

Capital expenditures are expected to be between $500 million and $550 million in 2023. This reflects increased spend on fiber service delivery, and nearly 90% of our capital spending is allocated to broadband growth. Before turning over the call, I want to thank the team for all of their hard work and continued dedication to our mission. It takes alignment across the entire organization to execute on our strategy. So each one of our associates is contributing to TDS Telecom's success.

到 2023 年，資本支出預計將在 5 億美元至 5.5 億美元之間。這反映了光纖服務交付支出的增加，我們將近 90% 的資本支出分配給了寬帶增長。在交接電話之前，我要感謝團隊的辛勤工作和對我們使命的持續奉獻。執行我們的戰略需要整個組織保持一致。因此，我們的每一位員工都在為 TDS Telecom 的成功做出貢獻。

I'll now turn the call back to Colleen.

我現在將電話轉回 Colleen。

Okay. Operator, we're ready for the first question.

好的。接線員，我們準備好了第一個問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from Rick Prentiss of Raymond James.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Rick Prentiss。

Can you hear me okay?

你能聽到我說話嗎？

Rick, it's a little hard to hear you.

瑞克，聽你說話有點困難。

Yes. A couple of questions. Can you hear me better now?

是的。幾個問題。你現在能聽得更清楚了嗎？

Yes, much better.

是的，好多了。

Okay. Cool. Yes. First, I want to focus on the balance sheet and capital allocation maybe. Vicki, as you look at investment years at both U.S. Cellular and TDS Telecom, help us understand, you mentioned the level of leverage you want to see in '23. Where is that at? How are you viewing the dividend as far as that capital allocation goes and any consideration of looking at possibly securitizing the tower business, which seems to still be doing very well.

好的。涼爽的。是的。首先，我想關注資產負債表和資本配置。 Vicki，當你回顧美國蜂窩和 TDS 電信的投資年數時，幫助我們理解，你提到了你希望在 23 年看到的槓桿水平。那是在什麼地方？就資本配置而言，您如何看待股息以及考慮可能將塔業務證券化的任何考慮，這似乎仍然做得很好。

Okay. A couple of questions there. Let me start first with capital allocation strategy. Just broadly, as we are looking across our businesses, we've talked significantly about last year, the last couple of years, this year, we are in a heavy investment cycle, both with the 5G modernization and C-band deployment at U.S. Cellular and the expansion of our footprint and into approximately 100 new markets at TDS Telecom. But I have to balance the needs and the pacing and the timing of those investments with our leverage and with dividends that we feel are important to our shareholders.

好的。那裡有幾個問題。讓我先從資本配置策略開始。從廣義上講，當我們審視我們的業務時，我們在去年、過去幾年和今年都進行了重要的討論，我們正處於一個沉重的投資週期，包括 5G 現代化和 U.S. Cellular 的 C 波段部署TDS Telecom 擴大我們的足跡並進入大約 100 個新市場。但我必須在這些投資的需求、節奏和時機與我們認為對股東很重要的槓桿和股息之間取得平衡。

So it's a balance. And as I look at our leverage, we are working to manage -- really manage well under our debt covenants with significant safety net. And we are looking to manage within our credit rating requirements. And so we're balancing that with the pacing of our investments back into the business.

所以這是一個平衡。當我審視我們的槓桿作用時，我們正在努力管理——根據我們具有重要安全網的債務契約，真正管理得很好。我們希望在我們的信用評級要求範圍內進行管理。因此，我們正在平衡這一點與我們對業務的投資節奏。

And then let's see. You had a second question on towers. If I think more broadly about our noncore assets and towers, that gives our balance sheet strength. And it also gives and contributes strength to the business. So we talked a lot about the towers and the importance to the U.S. Cellular as a core part of its operation. And but it gives us balance sheet strength. So I will tell you that we have sufficient liquidity for 2023 and we have sufficient sources -- but I would not -- I would have those -- if I needed them, but for 2023, I'm not needing to monetize anything on the balance sheet.

然後讓我們看看。你有第二個關於塔的問題。如果我更廣泛地考慮我們的非核心資產和塔樓，那將增強我們的資產負債表。它還為業務提供並貢獻力量。因此，我們談了很多關於塔樓以及 US Cellular 作為其運營核心部分的重要性。但它給了我們資產負債表的力量。所以我會告訴你，我們在 2023 年有足夠的流動性，我們有足夠的資源——但我不會——我會有那些——如果我需要它們，但到 2023 年，我不需要將任何東西貨幣化資產負債表。

Okay. And the dividend was increased not that long ago, I think, what, 49th year in a row or so, so still a strong commitment to paying the dividend.

好的。不久前股息增加了，我想，連續第 49 年左右，所以仍然堅定地承諾支付股息。

We have a very strong commitment to paying the dividend. We have a long track record that we're very proud of, and we are focused on modestly increasing it, which we did this year.

我們非常堅定地承諾支付股息。我們擁有我們引以為豪的長期業績記錄，我們專注於適度增加它，我們今年就是這樣做的。

Okay. Second question for me. LT, when you joined, you mentioned that there could be opportunities for partnerships in the business to help return on capital. It's been several years. Obviously, it's been a difficult environment out there. But update us as far as what potential partnerships are out there, where you're at as far as maybe bringing them to fruition.

好的。我的第二個問題。 LT，當你加入時，你提到業務中可能有合作夥伴關係的機會來幫助資本回報。已經好幾年了。顯然，這是一個艱難的環境。但是，請告訴我們目前有哪些潛在的合作夥伴關係，以及您可能使它們取得成果的進展情況。

Yes, I remain -- the concept of partnerships and the opportunity for partnerships is founded on two concepts. The first concept is that the capital intensity for the industry as a whole is in a challenging place. It's the case for us. It's also the case for our competitors. And the second concept that it's founded upon is it simply does not make sense in my perspective, if you think about network density, site density required to support 5G, let alone 6G, which is starting to be talked about. Building multiple duplicative, 4 or 5 duplicative networks in rural America, given the capital intensity challenges to me doesn't make sense. And so we continue to have conversations with players in the industry. Obviously, I can't get into specifics. I think there's general agreement upon those two founding principles.

是的，我仍然——夥伴關係的概念和夥伴關係的機會是建立在兩個概念之上的。第一個概念是整個行業的資本密集度處於一個充滿挑戰的地方。我們就是這樣。我們的競爭對手也是如此。它所基於的第二個概念是，在我看來，如果你考慮支持 5G 所需的網絡密度、站點密度，更不用說 6G 了，這在我看來根本就沒有意義，這已經開始被討論了。考慮到資本密集度對我的挑戰，在美國農村建立多個重複的、4 或 5 個重複的網絡是沒有意義的。因此，我們繼續與業內人士進行對話。顯然，我無法詳細說明。我認為人們普遍同意這兩項基本原則。

One interesting example, it's a very micro example, Rick, but it gives you a sense about how people are thinking about this. In our tower business, One of the interesting things that we can do is we don't just market real estate on the tower because we're an operator, and we also have assets at that tower that other people can use, we can market those as well. And so those are shelters and generators and those core sorts of things that you would expect.

一個有趣的例子，這是一個非常微觀的例子，里克，但它讓你了解人們是如何思考這個問題的。在我們的鐵塔業務中，我們可以做的一件有趣的事情是，我們不只是因為我們是運營商而在鐵塔上銷售房地產，而且我們在鐵塔上也有其他人可以使用的資產，我們可以銷售那些也是。因此，這些是避難所和發電機以及您所期望的那些核心事物。

The interesting one is backhaul. So we've had some conversations with people about sharing backhaul. And in the past, that concept would have been no thank you, right? That means that there's a piece of my network that I have to share with someone else. And we're actually seeing a lot of interest in some of those backhaul sharing conversations. So I believe the momentum behind those partnerships remain reasonable. I think it's still a good strategic concept. To your point, we haven't seen meaningful progress that I can report out on a call like this. But I do think that the underlying strategic rationale remains sound, and we continue to have those conversations with folks in the industry.

有趣的是回程。因此，我們與人們就共享回程進行了一些對話。在過去，這個概念是不，謝謝你，對吧？這意味著我必須與其他人共享我的一部分網絡。我們實際上看到很多人對其中一些回程共享對話很感興趣。所以我相信這些夥伴關係背後的勢頭仍然是合理的。我認為這仍然是一個很好的戰略概念。就你的觀點而言，我們還沒有看到我可以在這樣的電話會議上報告的有意義的進展。但我確實認為潛在的戰略依據仍然是合理的，我們將繼續與業內人士進行這些對話。

Your next question is from Sergey Dluzhevskiy of Gamco Investors.

你的下一個問題來自 Gamco Investors 的 Sergey Dluzhevskiy。

My first question is for LT. You mentioned that the promotions and offers that you had in the market in the second half of last year and first quarter of this year, are having positive impact on churn with a 6 to 9 months lag effect as you expected.

我的第一個問題是關於 LT。你提到去年下半年和今年第一季度你在市場上的促銷和優惠對客戶流失產生了積極影響，正如你預期的那樣，滯後效應為 6 到 9 個月。

My question is, as you look at the magnitude of churn improvement, is that what you expected? Is it tracking better or worse compared to your kind of initial expectation based on some of the trials that you did in your regional markets before? And also, besides getting more customers in contract, which is obviously what you're working on, what additional steps do you see that are working for you or have been working for you recently in terms of improving churn and what else could be done?

我的問題是，當您查看客戶流失改善的幅度時，這是否符合您的預期？根據您之前在區域市場進行的一些試驗，與您最初的預期相比，它的跟踪情況是好是壞？而且，除了讓更多的客戶簽訂合同（這顯然是您正在做的事情）之外，您認為還有哪些其他步驟對您有用，或者最近在改善客戶流失率方面一直在為您工作，還有什麼可以做的？

Thank you for the question. I am pleased with the progress that we've made on churn. Clearly, still have a lot of room to go. But more broadly, as I think about trends in the business, we've had, if I look at 2022, every quarter had better net add momentum than the quarter before.

感謝你的提問。我對我們在客戶流失方面取得的進展感到滿意。顯然，還有很大的發展空間。但更廣泛地說，當我考慮業務趨勢時，如果我看一下 2022 年，每個季度的淨增長勢頭都比前一個季度好。

In the first quarter of this year, we have better net adds -- better net add results than the first quarter of last year. Q1 is generally going to be down from Q4 for net adds in our industry, as you well know. And so the momentum in the business, the direction of the business is heading from a net add perspective, I'm pleased with. It's not fast enough. We have to continue to improve the momentum and the reason I share that with you is because it's somewhat similar to the results that we saw on churn.

今年第一季度，我們有更好的淨增加——比去年第一季度更好的淨增加結果。正如您所知，我們行業的淨增加量，第一季度通常會低於第四季度。因此，從淨增加的角度來看，業務的發展勢頭和業務方向正在走向，我對此感到滿意。它不夠快。我們必須繼續提高勢頭，我之所以與您分享這一點，是因為它與我們在流失率上看到的結果有些相似。

So the net impact of the promotions has been about what we expected. It took a bit longer than we had seen in our test market. And so the improvements took a few more months to drive the benefits that we hoped to see in terms of churn improvement than we had seen in our test markets. But the overall impact of the improvement is consistent, and we remain optimistic that we can continue to drive those kinds of improvements in churn. As long as we can keep people in contracts, right?

因此，促銷活動的淨影響與我們預期的差不多。它花費的時間比我們在測試市場上看到的要長一些。因此，與我們在測試市場上看到的相比，這些改進花了幾個月的時間來推動我們希望在客戶流失改善方面看到的好處。但改進的總體影響是一致的，我們仍然樂觀地認為我們可以繼續推動客戶流失方面的此類改進。只要我們能讓人們保持合同，對嗎？

Our in contract rate right now is about 64%. It's as high as it's been in a long time. We're going to have to maintain that type of in-contract rate if we want to continue to see positive churn momentum. And so that's going to be a key driver of it. The other pieces of it are -- we have to be targeted and smart with our upgrade offers. We continue to pulse in and out between mass upgrade offers and targeted upgrade offers. And by targeted, I mean digital outreach to customers.

我們現在的簽約率約為 64%。這是很長一段時間以來的最高水平。如果我們想繼續看到積極的流失勢頭，我們將不得不維持這種合同率。因此，這將成為它的關鍵驅動因素。它的其他部分是 - 我們必須有針對性地提供升級服務。我們繼續在大規模升級優惠和有針對性的升級優惠之間進進出出。有針對性，我指的是對客戶的數字外展。

The results we see from those targeted offers are considerably better than our test cohort. And so I'm optimistic about the results that we get from those targeted efforts. You don't get the same bang as you do with mass upgrade offers, but you get better bang for your buck with those targeted upgrade offers. And that brings me to my last -- the last piece of the equation, which is the balance between subscriber and economic results, that we try to strike.

我們從這些有針對性的報價中看到的結果比我們的測試隊列要好得多。因此，我對我們從這些有針對性的努力中獲得的結果感到樂觀。您不會獲得與大規模升級優惠相同的收益，但您可以通過這些有針對性的升級優惠獲得更好的收益。這讓我想到了我的最後一個——等式的最後一部分，即我們試圖達到的訂戶和經濟結果之間的平衡。

Yes, there is an easier way to continue to drive churn down, which is just to be super aggressive on upgrade offers, do mass upgrade offers and throw more money at it. We've tried to be very disciplined in this market. It's a highly competitive market. And in a highly competitive market, which you don't necessarily want to do is continue to lead a charge to the bottom. And so what we've tried to do is be disciplined in the balance between the financial results and the subscriber results.

是的，有一種更簡單的方法可以繼續降低客戶流失率，那就是在升級優惠上超級激進，提供大量升級優惠並投入更多資金。我們試圖在這個市場上非常自律。這是一個競爭激烈的市場。而在競爭激烈的市場中，你不一定想做的就是繼續向底部衝鋒。因此，我們試圖做的是在財務結果和訂戶結果之間保持平衡。

And I think you see that in ARPU. You see that in our continued improvement in ARPU in the face of some pretty intense competitive pressures and in the face of rolling out flat rate which, as we talked about earlier, has a net dilutive effect on ARPU. So hopefully that gives you some sense, Sergey, about how we're thinking about it and some of the levers that we're trying to pull and how those are affecting the results that we're seeing. Good momentum. We've got to make sure we keep it going.

我想你在 ARPU 中看到了這一點。您會看到，面對一些相當激烈的競爭壓力以及推出統一費率，我們在 ARPU 方面的持續改進，正如我們之前談到的那樣，這對 ARPU 有淨稀釋作用。因此，謝爾蓋，希望這能讓你了解我們是如何考慮它的，以及我們試圖拉動的一些槓桿，以及這些槓桿如何影響我們所看到的結果。勢頭不錯。我們必須確保我們繼續前進。

Got it. My second question is on the gross add front. Handsets gross adds were up 2% year-over-year, but it was largely driven by, I think, 5,000 increase in feature phone gross adds. The smartphone gross add down 3%. Maybe a 2-part question. First, what is the reason for increasing number of feature phones or size over the past few quarters? And second, more broadly, if you look across different geographies and different markets that you have. What are some of the common characteristics of markets where you tend to do better in terms of gross adds over the past few quarters? And are there any license loans that could be applied to other markets that are underperforming right now?

知道了。我的第二個問題是關於總添加方面。手機總增加量同比增長 2%，但我認為這主要是受到功能手機總增加量增加 5,000 部的推動。智能手機總收入下降 3%。也許是一個兩部分的問題。首先，過去幾個季度功能手機數量或尺寸增加的原因是什麼？其次，更廣泛地說，如果你審視你擁有的不同地區和不同市場。在過去幾個季度中，您往往在總增加量方面做得更好的市場有哪些共同特徵？是否有任何許可貸款可以應用於目前表現不佳的其他市場？

Yes, Sergey, on the first part of your question with respect to the feature phone success, one thing we see occurring is that customers that have been on our prepaid plans, some are migrating over to our flat rate plan. So in the first quarter of this year, 3,500 prepaid customers migrated to our postpaid flat rate plans. That counts as a postpaid gross add and that's why you're seeing that dynamic between feature phones and smartphones in the first quarter.

是的，Sergey，關於你關於功能手機成功的問題的第一部分，我們看到發生的一件事是，已經使用我們預付費計劃的客戶，有些正在遷移到我們的統一費率計劃。因此，在今年第一季度，有 3,500 名預付費客戶遷移到我們的後付費統一費率計劃。這算作後付費總增加，這就是為什麼你在第一季度看到功能手機和智能手機之間的動態變化。

And Sergey, I'll tackle your second question in terms of market characteristics. You won't find it shocking, right? Markets where we have a strong network, we generally do well from a subscriber performance perspective. When we roll out 5G, we see improvements in customer perception. We don't just see improvements in perception. We see actual demonstrated improvements in performance. And so where we have upgraded our network, we tend to see better subscriber results.

謝爾蓋，我將根據市場特徵來回答你的第二個問題。你不會覺得很震驚吧？在我們擁有強大網絡的市場，從訂戶表現的角度來看，我們通常做得很好。當我們推出 5G 時，我們看到了客戶認知的改善。我們不僅看到感知的改善。我們看到實際展示的性能改進。因此，在我們升級網絡的地方，我們往往會看到更好的訂閱者結果。

By upgrading our network, you can think of that in two ways. The first way is modernizing the 5G. As I mentioned in my earlier comments, we have 80% now of our traffic is -- rides over a tower that has been upgraded to 5G. I mentioned that only because as customers move to 5G handsets, that's the key metric that we're following is not what's the total percentage of traffic on 5G, it's what's the total percentage of traffic that rides over a 5G-enabled tower. Because as you know, getting a 5G signal requires you to upgrade the tower, but it also requires you to upgrade a handset.

通過升級我們的網絡，您可以從兩個方面考慮。第一種方法是對 5G 進行現代化改造。正如我在之前的評論中提到的那樣，我們現在有 80% 的流量是——乘坐已升級到 5G 的塔。我提到這只是因為隨著客戶轉向 5G 手機，我們關注的關鍵指標不是 5G 流量的總百分比，而是通過支持 5G 的塔的總流量百分比。因為如你所知，獲得5G信號需要你升級塔，但也需要你升級手機。

We feel good about how we've invested, how we've made those investments and how we've upgraded our network to 5G. The next pivot in terms of continuing to improve our network is with mid-band. And so we've begun deployment of that mid-band spectrum. Right now, we can only light up the 3.45 spectrum that we purchased from the Department of Defense but we are deploying the C-band spectrum as well that we expect to be able to light up at the end of this year.

我們對自己的投資方式、進行這些投資的方式以及將網絡升級到 5G 的方式感到滿意。繼續改進我們網絡的下一個重點是中頻。因此，我們已經開始部署該中頻帶頻譜。現在，我們只能點亮我們從國防部購買的 3.45 頻譜，但我們正在部署 C 波段頻譜，我們希望能夠在今年年底點亮。

As we reported, I think we've been able to clear any interference concerns we have with the FAA. And so we feel good about our ability to deploy that spectrum for the benefit of our customers. And as we light that up, we believe we'll have an even more compelling network offering and so that helps us drive subscriber performance both on the churn side and the gross adds side. Go ahead, Sergey, one more?

正如我們報導的那樣，我認為我們已經能夠消除我們對美國聯邦航空局的任何干擾擔憂。因此，我們對我們為客戶的利益部署該頻譜的能力感到滿意。當我們點亮它時，我們相信我們將擁有一個更具吸引力的網絡產品，因此這有助於我們在客戶流失和總增加方面推動用戶表現。來吧，謝爾蓋，再來一個？

Yes. One more question for Vicki. Last question. Basically, TDS and USM stocks obviously have been under pressure for some time and operational turnaround that US Cellular is taking longer than expected. I mean, obviously, we see green fields, but it's taking longer than expected, while competitors obviously don't sit still. So given all that, what moves around capital allocation or financial engineering with TDS and US Cellular considered to surface value from a significant collection of underappreciated assets that you have in your portfolio that potentially could provide you with additional capital to invest for growth? And also just in general, broaden strategic flexibility.

是的。還有一個問題要問 Vicki。最後一個問題。基本上，TDS 和 USM 庫存顯然已經承受了一段時間的壓力，而 US Cellular 的運營周轉時間比預期的要長。我的意思是，很明顯，我們看到了綠色領域，但它花費的時間比預期的要長，而競爭對手顯然不會坐以待斃。因此，考慮到所有這些，考慮到 TDS 和 US Cellular 的資本配置或金融工程如何從您的投資組合中擁有的大量被低估的資產中挖掘出價值，這些資產可能會為您提供額外的資本來投資於增長？而且一般來說，擴大戰略靈活性。

Yes. Thank you, Sergey, for the question. as I had answered before, we have a balanced approach to our resource allocation, and we're constantly weighing the returns that we're getting on our investments and as we are allocating our capital, we're very focused as LT has outlined, and Michelle and Doug have outlined, the strategic objectives at both businesses. Having said that, our stock is under pressure as it -- we saw a decline in that, and we are making heavy investments right now, and that is pressuring our profitability and our free cash flow in the near term. However, we are very focused on these investments, trying to position both businesses for future growth and improved returns over time. And that is our goal.

是的。謝謝謝爾蓋提出的問題。正如我之前回答的那樣，我們對資源分配採用平衡的方法，並且我們不斷權衡我們獲得的投資回報，並且在我們分配資本時，我們非常專注，正如 LT 所概述的那樣，米歇爾和道格概述了兩家公司的戰略目標。話雖如此，我們的股票仍面臨壓力——我們看到股價下跌，我們現在正在進行大量投資，這在短期內給我們的盈利能力和自由現金流帶來壓力。然而，我們非常專注於這些投資，試圖為未來的增長和隨著時間的推移提高回報而對這兩項業務進行定位。這就是我們的目標。

As I've talked about, we've got a strong balance sheet. We have strong assets on our balance sheet and noncore assets. And if we should need to do something with those from a financial engineering perspective, that would always be an option. But right now, that is not our plan for 2023.

正如我所說，我們擁有強大的資產負債表。我們在資產負債表和非核心資產上擁有強大的資產。如果我們需要從金融工程的角度對這些做些什麼，那總是一個選擇。但現在，這不是我們 2023 年的計劃。

Your next question is from Simon Flannery of Morgan Stanley.

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙弗蘭納里。

I don't think you really referenced macro much on the call, which I guess is a good thing. But some companies have talked a little bit about slower payments or higher involuntary churn. I wonder if you could just talk across both the consumer and the enterprise wireline and wireless. Anything you're seeing or you're monitoring on the macro side of things or enterprise decision-making.

我認為您在通話中並沒有真正引用宏，我想這是一件好事。但一些公司已經談及了支付速度變慢或非自願流失增加的問題。我想知道您是否可以同時討論消費者和企業有線和無線。您在事物或企業決策的宏觀方面所看到或正在監控的任何內容。

And then LT, you talked a lot about fixed wireless. Nice to see the momentum there. Help us a little bit with this scaling as you bring on the mid-band spectrum. How should we think about your go-to-market across your footprint with that mid-band 5G footprint, we're obviously seeing a lot of traction at Verizon and T-Mobile. So how will that flow into 2024 for the company? And how do you address the concerns or the kind of pushback by some about the inability of wireless to handle broadband traffic beyond a certain point?

然後是 LT，您談到了很多關於固定無線的問題。很高興看到那裡的勢頭。當您使用中頻帶頻譜時，請幫助我們進行這種縮放。我們應該如何考慮你在中頻 5G 覆蓋範圍內進入市場，我們顯然在 Verizon 和 T-Mobile 看到了很大的吸引力。那麼，這將如何影響公司的 2024 年呢？您如何解決某些人對無線網絡無法處理超過特定點的寬帶流量的擔憂或抵制？

Thanks, Simon. A lot there. I'll have Doug tackle the macro from the U.S. Cellular perspective. You mentioned wireline. So I'll have Michele tackle macro from the telecom perspective, and then I'll answer your question about fixed wireless. Doug?

謝謝，西蒙。那裡有很多。我會讓道格從美國蜂窩的角度來處理宏觀問題。你提到了有線。所以我會讓米歇爾從電信的角度來解決宏觀問題，然後我會回答你關於固定無線的問題。道格？

Yes. Simon. So on the macro side, I mean, there's continued pressure with generally higher inflation rates and potential recession later this year. But I would say as we're managing our payments and bad debt quite well. If you look at our bad debt expense, it's actually flat year-over-year at $26 billion for this quarter.

是的。西蒙。因此，在宏觀方面，我的意思是，今年晚些時候通貨膨脹率普遍較高和潛在的經濟衰退仍然存在壓力。但我會說，因為我們正在很好地管理我們的付款和壞賬。如果你看一下我們的壞賬支出，本季度實際上與去年同期持平，為 260 億美元。

Our involuntary churn went up very slightly and the weight per involuntary defect went up slightly. So there is some pressure there. We're spending a lot of time monitoring it and taking action specifically. We tightened credit twice in the fourth quarter of last year. We've taken some antifraud measures, including ID scanners and enhance ID scanners in our stores as well as extending the device locking period. All of those are going to help us in 2023 as it relates to bad debt.

我們的非自願流失略有上升，每個非自願缺陷的權重略有上升。所以那裡有一些壓力。我們花了很多時間來監控它並採取具體行動。我們在去年第四季度收緊了兩次信貸。我們採取了一些反欺詐措施，包括在我們的商店中安裝 ID 掃描儀和增強 ID 掃描儀，以及延長設備鎖定期。所有這些都將在 2023 年幫助我們解決壞賬問題。

Certainly, watch point given the macro environment, but we continue to manage it well and feel good about where we're at right now.

當然，考慮到宏觀環境，我們要注意點，但我們會繼續很好地管理它，並對我們現在所處的位置感覺良好。

Simon, it's Michelle. So I'll take it from the telecom side. Yes. So from our perspective, on the customer payments, bad debt expense, we're operating at the pre-pandemic levels. We had gotten back to that already most of last year. So things are trending just normally for us. So not really any concerns there.

西蒙，是米歇爾。所以我會從電信方面考慮。是的。因此，從我們的角度來看，在客戶付款、壞賬支出方面，我們的運營處於大流行前的水平。我們已經回到了去年大部分時間。所以事情對我們來說是正常的趨勢。所以真的沒有任何顧慮。

Last year, you did hear us talk about supply chain concerns and some actions we were taking with that. We did a lot of prebuying in 2022 to make sure that we had the materials that we needed in order to make sure to not delay any of our fiber builds. We were very successful in doing that, and that's a shout out to our supply chain management team. So -- at this point, we're seeing some of the supply chain constraints loosen a little bit. And so we don't see the same risk in supply chain this year going forward. We were positioned really well coming into 2023. And, in fact, hope to be able to just start utilizing some of that pre-buying that we had done.

去年，您確實聽到我們談論供應鏈問題以及我們為此採取的一些行動。我們在 2022 年進行了大量預購，以確保我們擁有所需的材料，以確保不會延遲我們的任何光纖構建。我們在這方面做得非常成功，這對我們的供應鏈管理團隊來說是一種鼓舞。所以——在這一點上，我們看到一些供應鏈限制有所放鬆。因此，我們認為今年供應鏈中不會出現同樣的風險。進入 2023 年，我們的定位非常好。事實上，我們希望能夠開始利用我們已經完成的一些預購。

In terms of inflation, we do see some higher costs in certain areas of our business. As it relates to our fiber builds, there are some higher costs related to labor and materials, but we have consistently worked and I think I've talked about this before, to find ways to mitigate some of those cost increases with implementing process improvements and figuring out ways to design our network builds more efficiently, more effectively making sure we're targeting the lowest cost areas to build.

在通貨膨脹方面，我們確實看到我們業務的某些領域的成本更高。由於它與我們的光纖構建有關，因此與人工和材料相關的成本較高，但我們一直在努力，我想我之前已經談過這個問題，以找到通過實施流程改進來減輕其中一些成本增加的方法，並且找出更有效地設計我們的網絡構建的方法，更有效地確保我們瞄準成本最低的區域進行構建。

So far, even though there's been some cost increases in certain areas related to our business case on fiber, we're able to maintain the overall business case expectations and the returns we expect to get out of those projects. Because of the mitigating initiatives that we put to offset some of those higher costs. So I'm not sure, Vicki, if you want to talk at all about interest rates from the macro perspective?

到目前為止，儘管與我們的光纖業務案例相關的某些領域的成本有所增加，但我們能夠保持總體業務案例預期以及我們期望從這些項目中獲得的回報。由於我們採取了緩解措施來抵消其中一些較高的成本。所以我不確定，Vicki，你是否想從宏觀角度談談利率？

Yes. I mean, certainly, we saw an increase, another increase modestly by the Fed. I think I've shared with you for every 1% increase in the rates, it's about $20 million more in interest expense. But I think I'm very comfortable with the balance between our fixed -- in our variable portions of debt, and we've got that built into our projections.

是的。我的意思是，當然，我們看到了增加，美聯儲又一次適度增加。我想我已經與您分享了利率每增加 1%，利息支出就會增加約 2000 萬美元。但我認為我對我們的固定債務和可變債務部分之間的平衡感到非常滿意，我們已經將其納入我們的預測。

And Simon, let me tackle fixed wireless based on your question. We are very pleased with the momentum we've seen in that product. Like I mentioned before in the comments, but I'll just reiterate it briefly.

西蒙，讓我根據你的問題解決固定無線問題。我們對該產品的發展勢頭感到非常滿意。就像我之前在評論中提到的那樣，但我只是簡單地重申一下。

We do have two interesting continued catalysts. One, we didn't expand that product footprint wide until June of last year. And so as you're looking at year-over-year growth, we still feel good about Q2 in terms of our ability to grow meaningfully because we have it across our entire footprint. And additionally, as we start to bring on mid-band spectrum, we have an ability to satisfy not only capacity, which is certainly an issue that we're paying attention to, but also deliver a far higher speed experience. And so we have the ability to compete in areas and effectively compete in areas that maybe we're not really touching right now.

我們確實有兩個有趣的持續催化劑。第一，我們直到去年 6 月才擴大該產品的覆蓋範圍。因此，當您查看同比增長時，我們仍然對第二季度的有意義增長能力感到滿意，因為我們在整個足跡中都有它。此外，隨著我們開始引入中頻帶頻譜，我們不僅有能力滿足容量，這當然是我們關注的問題，而且還可以提供更高的速度體驗。因此，我們有能力在一些領域進行競爭，並在我們現在可能還沒有真正觸及的領域進行有效競爭。

The interesting thing about our rollout is it's a little bit different than our competitors. And I think it creates a more sustained opportunity and it also creates an opportunity to manage our network differently and that's -- we're focusing more on rural areas and rural customers. First, it's a very different competitive dynamic. Right now, our low-band product competes primarily with satellite with DSL, and you can see the growth that we've been driving in it.

我們推出的有趣之處在於它與我們的競爭對手略有不同。而且我認為它創造了一個更持久的機會，它也創造了一個以不同方式管理我們網絡的機會，那就是 - 我們更多地關注農村地區和農村客戶。首先，這是一種非常不同的競爭動態。目前，我們的低頻段產品主要通過 DSL 與衛星競爭，您可以看到我們一直在推動的增長。

When we roll out mid-band, we'll be competing not only against those technologies, but against an upgraded cable plan, even upgraded cable plan when people aren't happy with their cable provider. The one place and I've been trying to be pretty clear about this in the past, we don't view this product as being particularly competitive against is where there's existing fiber. We do not plan -- you asked about go-to-market, right? We don't plan on aggressively distributing or going to market or marketing the product in areas where there is fiber. But we do plan on aggressively marketing it everywhere else. And the other nice thing about doing this in rural areas is it's more manageable from a capacity perspective.

當我們推出中頻時，我們不僅要與這些技術競爭，還要與升級的有線電視計劃競爭，甚至在人們對他們的有線電視提供商不滿意時升級有線電視計劃。一個地方，我過去一直在努力弄清楚這一點，我們不認為該產品在現有光纖的地方具有特別的競爭力。我們沒有計劃 - 你問過上市，對嗎？我們不打算在有光纖的地區積極分銷或營銷產品。但我們確實計劃在其他地方積極營銷它。在農村地區這樣做的另一個好處是，從容量的角度來看，它更易於管理。

Capacity is certainly something we're still going to have to pay attention to. Fixed wireless subscribers is a lot (inaudible) but when you have a less dense subscriber base, utilizing fixed wireless off of a tower, you then also have less competition with your mobility product. And so you can manage those capacity demands in a bit more of a targeted in an elegant fashion. And so right now, our plan is we continue to be full speed ahead with the product. We continue to expect to distribute it across our entire footprint, and we remain really bullish on what we're seeing.

容量當然是我們仍然需要注意的事情。固定無線用戶很多（聽不清），但是當您的用戶群密度較低時，利用塔外的固定無線，您與移動產品的競爭也會減少。因此，您可以以優雅的方式更有針對性地管理這些容量需求。所以現在，我們的計劃是繼續全速開發該產品。我們繼續期望將其分佈在我們的整個足跡中，並且我們仍然非常看好我們所看到的。

So that's really helpful, both on the macro and the fixed wireless. So just -- I think you would have 30 million POPs or something. So maybe is that fair to think that, that's 12 million and 15 million households. And will you have 5G to half of those, more than half of those with fixed wireless next year?

所以這對宏和固定無線都非常有幫助。所以只是 - 我認為你會有 3000 萬個持久性有機污染物或其他東西。所以也許這樣認為是公平的，那是 1200 萬和 1500 萬個家庭。明年你會為其中一半，超過一半的固定無線用戶提供 5G 嗎？

I'm trying to follow the bouncing ball on the math, Doug, you've got...

我正在努力跟隨數學上的彈跳球，道格，你有...

Yes. So I mean, right now, Simon, over a low-band, it covers our entire footprint. That's about 13 million homes. With respect to mid-band, that's going to be multiyear rollouts. We're going to get to more homes -- we're going to get to those 13 million homes over time. And probably, frankly, not all of them over time based on the way mid-band propagates. But we will continue to expand that coverage starting this year with our build-out. And again, it's multiyear.

是的。所以我的意思是，現在，西蒙，在低頻段，它覆蓋了我們的整個足跡。那是大約1300萬戶家庭。關於中頻段，這將是多年的推出。我們將惠及更多家庭——隨著時間的推移，我們將惠及那 1300 萬戶家庭。坦率地說，根據中頻帶傳播的方式，可能並非所有這些都隨著時間的推移而變化。但我們將從今年開始擴建，繼續擴大覆蓋範圍。再一次，它是多年的。

Your next question is from [Tom Lidka] of Citadel.

你的下一個問題來自 Citadel 的 [Tom Lidka]。

I've been a shareholder for 32 years, and I purchased the stock at $14.34. And 32 years later, I've lost half my money. And I've listened to this presentation of enthusiastic future results, and they don't seem to come. And I'm wondering at some point, if it makes sense to put the company up for sale and let these assets be more efficiently run in a larger system because I don't know where we're headed here, the stock is at a 32-year low. And I wonder if someone can explain this to me?

我成為股東已有 32 年，我以 14.34 美元的價格購買了這隻股票。 32 年後，我損失了一半的錢。我聽過這種熱情的未來結果的介紹，但它們似乎並沒有出現。我想知道在某個時候，將公司出售並讓這些資產在更大的系統中更有效地運行是否有意義，因為我不知道我們要去哪裡，股票處於32 年低點。我想知道是否有人可以向我解釋一下？

Tom, it's LT. We certainly appreciate you sticking with us. I appreciate you being a shareholder for so long. Certainly questions that you're asking or questions we've been asked before and they continue to be things that we evaluate in terms of strategic options for the business.

湯姆，是 LT。我們當然感謝您堅持使用我們。我很感激你這麼長時間以來一直是股東。當然，您提出的問題或我們以前被問過的問題，它們仍然是我們根據業務戰略選擇進行評估的問題。

We believe in this business, we believe in the long-term future of the business. It's -- the wireless industry as a whole is in an interesting place right now. Lots of people have invested a lot of capital to produce and to deliver 5G and those use cases have been slow to manifest themselves. And I think that's created capital intensity pressures, not just for us but for our competitors. And I do think you see that reflected in the performance of the equity.

我們相信這項業務，我們相信該業務的長遠未來。它是——整個無線行業現在處於一個有趣的地方。許多人投入了大量資金來生產和交付 5G，但這些用例的出現速度很慢。我認為這不僅對我們而且對我們的競爭對手都造成了資本密集度壓力。我確實認為你看到這反映在股票的表現上。

That being said, I believe we have a very strong set of assets in this business. We have strong spectrum holdings. We've reset our debt over the last few years to have -- so that we have a better positioned balance sheet. I think Vicki went through that. And I believe that we're well-positioned to support that 5G demand as it begins to emerge in the coming years.

話雖如此，我相信我們在這項業務中擁有非常強大的資產。我們擁有強大的頻譜資產。我們在過去幾年裡重新調整了我們的債務——這樣我們的資產負債表就更好了。我認為 Vicki 經歷過這些。而且我相信，隨著 5G 需求在未來幾年開始出現，我們已做好充分準備來支持它。

And so I understand your frustration. I share it. Obviously, I'm a shareholder as well. I appreciate the question. We think we're well-positioned to take advantage of that growth, and we're staying the course with our strategy because we believe in it.

所以我理解你的沮喪。我分享它。顯然，我也是股東。我很欣賞這個問題。我們認為我們已準備好利用這種增長，並且我們堅持我們的戰略，因為我們相信它。

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Colleen Thompson for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我現在將把電話轉給 Colleen Thompson 作結束語。

Okay. Thanks, everyone, for your time today. Again, please reach out to IR, if you have any additional questions. Have a great weekend.

好的。謝謝大家今天的時間。如果您有任何其他問題，請再次聯繫 IR。週末愉快。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。